Chapter Text
In all of the time that Cecie had known Eugie, she had never, ever thought she’d see him like this, shifting his feet and eyes pointed towards the ground with the most uncharacteristic scowl in place of his usual bored expression. She finally makes her way to his side, and touches his shoulder. “Eugie?” She tilts her head down, frowns at him gently. “What’s wrong?” Eugie scowls deeper, before sighing and straightening up, a resigned expression on his face.
“We ought to talk.”
Uh oh… this doesn’t sound any good. She swallows her nerves, and takes his hand in hers, squeezing it reassuringly to try and comfort him. His hand twitches, but predictably, he doesn’t close his hand around hers – if he had, she’d really have to worry.
Classes are out for the day in the academy, so Cecie doesn’t look back when she realizes that they’re leaving the grounds, instead holding his hand happily and swinging their arms together. Eugie’s blushing a little bit, and she can tell by the way his other hand twitches that he really misses his hat.
She privately hopes Aujean burned it. She doesn’t ever voice that out loud of course, but with a glance to the soft mop of hair that laid on his head, she resists the temptation to pet it.
(The last time had been an experience. There was no logical reason why fluffy hair would cause such a reaction, but it did. They had agreed not to talk about it.)
It’s surprisingly empty this time of night, the two of them climbing the stairs to the ferris wheel and sitting on the platform. It was broken, right now, but that just meant it was empty.
“You know about how Kat and I met?” Eugie says the words hesitantly, and Cecie shook her head, kneeling on the floor and dangling her legs over the edge of the platform, seeing his head bow down as he joined her.
“She never talked about the people she knew… She was always afraid that by talking about them… She’d never get to go home.” His fingers tighten around hers, and she squeaks. They’re holding hands, but somehow that doesn’t feel like a victory.
“You’ll probably think less of me after this…” He muttered, and Cecie holds his hand tighter, hugs him.
“Not at all Eugie… Whatever it is, you regret it, don’t you?” She asked, and she is rewarded with his hesitant nod. “Tell me. I’ll listen to the end.” His eyes slide her way, before a defeated sigh is heaved.
“When I was a kid, my mom died…” And he told her. About the storm that he had survived because of Kat, and the rather cruel way he had yelled at her, ignoring how she’d saved his life at his father’s urging, how she went around saving Heksville piece by piece and how he’d scoffed at her.
He’d missed Kat when she’d disappeared, but unlike Chaz or Barbosa or Aki, he hadn’t tried changing the minds of the people who had chosen to forget her in favor of Kali, and even pretended that he hadn’t known her.
He admits with horrible embarrassment that he’d made her do that Kali scheme with the ice cream, had forgotten to account for the TVs and insulted her over something he really shouldn’t have done, and how she had – even after that, dropped by every week to help him keep his father out of the bars, just so that he and Eugie would have time together.
“Pops has been hitting the drink less now that she’s gone, but I still feel guilty about what I did – and hearing how you talk about her… I know, it’s stupid, but I feel like I don’t deserve whatever we have together” His head buries itself in his hands, and Cecie silently waffles between her options.
He was right – she had not liked hearing about what he’d said and done to Kat. She was still like a big sister to her. (Raven was nice, but she wasn’t like Kat, who used to put her hair up in braids so she could feel pretty, just for a little while) But he’d come clean about it anyways, knowing that it could end in the termination of their friendship.
And he’d been great – helping her with Durga and with learning how to be more confident, and teaching her that sometimes being nice wasn’t the best thing to do – especially with people who weren’t nice at all. She glances over once more, before making her decision.
Eugie’s head snaps up when she kisses his cheek, and her smile is sad, but understanding.
“It’s okay Eugie.” She says that softly, like a promise of absolution. “Thanks for telling me.” He doesn’t answer, face flushed dark as her head lays on his shoulder.
After a moment, he lets his head fall on top of her own, and they watch fireworks until sunrise.